Social Media Manager - Management and Online Marketing

The pace of development and society is increasing. The web is becoming the leading medium. Thanks to social networks, not only for information, but also for media, opinion and social connections. The social web is determined by users and user generated content. Networks and individual fan pages are turning from broadcasters into moderators, providing only the platform for evaluation and discussion. This is how social media managers measure the success of campaigns.

Key Facts -

What is social media marketing? What do social media managers do?

What are social networks? How do social networks work?

5 guiding rules for marketing activities in social media

Social media managers and their online marketing goals

Example Otto & Virality – Successful social media management does not have to be 100% planned, but cleverly done.

Influencer Marketing Basics from A-Z

Conclusion – Good content activates users to interact in social media

More about influencers and social media marketing

For more on the topic, check out my online Facebook Marketing course or my social media marketing agency‘s blog.

Social

Multi-channel management and target group or topic-specific differentiation of content are becoming increasingly important for social media managers. The linking and networking of one’s own media is important. For the user, every new world is always just a mouse click away. When it comes to content in social networks, ‘the special’ plays a central role. For fashion companies, exclusive glimpses behind the scenes offer themselves as trendsetters. Today we want to clarify a few basics! Important questions that often come up in the daily life of an agency social media manager:

What is social media marketing? What do social media managers do?
What are social networks? How do social networks work?
The 5 guiding rules for marketing activities in social media
Social media managers and their online marketing goals
Conclusion – Good content activates users to interact in social media

What is social media marketing? What do social media managers do?

Social media marketing is a special tool in the marketing mix. To narrow down the term I will first discuss term, concept, reach and metering. With this basis, the relevance of social media marketing for companies will then be discussed. The conclusion is formed by further best practices that illustrate how social media marketing can be operated in companies to increase the desired probability of interaction with the customer.

Fundamentally, social media management is based on the scope and effectiveness of viral effects. In order to be perceived as a credible interlocutor by users on the social web, it is important to pursue long-term strategies, to define goals and then to pursue them consistently. In this way, advertising messages can be successfully placed and brand positioning can be consolidated. In order to take and define these steps, it is important to have an idea of social media marketing and the dynamics in the social web.

From a technical perspective, social media managers use Web 2.0 functions for advertising and marketing purposes. Simply put, only program codes from HTML, Java, etc. enable communication and data exchange among each other. Thereby, social media management moves on platforms like Facebook, Vimeo, Tumblr, Twitter or even Snapchat. The possible applications of actions in social networks are very diverse, depending on the network (and specific target group).

What are social networks? How do social networks work?

The most prominent examples of networks on the social web are usually the “classic” social networks. But there are many new ones, including video and music platforms, event communities, blog systems, mirco blogs, photo communities, and many more. To name all the possibilities of the social web in detail would be a bit too much for the scope of this book. Therefore, the areas of the social web that have been most relevant for companies will be considered.

For this purpose, I have also prepared my own evaluation of the social media activities of the 20 leading German fashion companies. However, the basis for determining the relevance of social media management is primarily researched statistics, in combination with content from previously conducted expert interviews – yes, I go to great lengths for my blog!

In order to first determine the potential of the individual networks, a study by the German Institute for Marketing (DIM), among others, is helpful: Only German companies were surveyed. 71.8% of the companies use social networks, 45.1% and 45.0% respectively are active in multimedia content sharing and microblogging (Vimeo, Youtube, Tumblr, Twitter, …). A short digression: Multimedia content sharing allows users to store media on servers and make them available to other users. The best-known representatives here are Youtube for videos or Soundcloud for audio files. The best known microblogger is Twitter. In contrast to traditional blogs, the number of characters in Twitter is limited to 140. These microblogs can be subscribed to or retweeted by other users.

However, “classic” social networks still have the largest audience on the Internet. Thus also the highest reach for advertising and marketing messages of fashion companies. Interaction is the be-all and end-all. Through the amplifying power of interactions (commenting, liking, etc.), the relative reach increases enormously. Therefore, social networks are particularly interesting for companies in general in terms of online marketing.

5 guiding rules for marketing activities in social media

How social media managers can organize actions across channels (multi-channel management) is shown by the five guiding rules for marketing activities on the social web established by Bhargava (2010):

Create inspiring content
Note: There are millions of possibilities. But essential is a message that carries emotion. Simple are events: News from the store, from the team, travel, etc.
Make it easy to share your content
Note: Want users to share the message? Use visual elements such as graphics, photos and video footage. The simpler the message, the more likely it is to be shared.
Reward your users
Note: Whether through exclusive video footage or discounts on shopping, give your users added value in person – more on this later in the best practice “student” example from British fashion retailer Topshop.
Share your content actively
Note: Often your own network generates an effective starting point for messages. Whether in the social networks, your own website, online shop, at friendly agencies or among friends. Share your message with various multipliers.
Encourage embedding of your content
Note: Reminding users to share posts is very effective – why not? With the number of status updates from various groups, companies and fanpages on user profiles increasing daily, a reminder reminds users to take action now. Like: “The new collection… the first exclusive pictures!”, “Share it with your friends right now”.

The five guiding rules clarify how the job of a social media manager works. Social media marketing is about generating added value for users, preparing content in a user-friendly way and ultimately thinking and acting in a customer-oriented way.

Social media managers and their online marketing goals

The concept of social media marketing is pursued primarily by large companies. One of the best-known examples of marketing in social networks, even in supposed crisis situations, comes from the mail order company Otto. The Otto Group, one of the ten largest German family-owned companies, was active in social networks early on. Otto has steadily expanded its community, from 210,000 fans (2011) to a current 680,000 (2014). Looking at the current social media channels, this is not only due to high-quality content, but also to clever and detailed communication.

Example Otto & Virality – Successful social media management does not have to be 100% planned, but cleverly done.

Otto organized a call for the first Facebook channel design. Every user was allowed to participate and vote. The goal was to use the swarm intelligence and to find a suitable face for the new Facebook channel thanks to the community. The professional photo shoot was not won by a typical model, but by a young man dressed up in a miniskirt and wig, who participated under the name “Brigitte”. During the campaign, more than 23,000 users voted for him, making “Brigitte” the winner of the contest. Otto did not refuse. A few weeks later, they organized the promised photo shoot – with the young man in miniskirt and wig. For several weeks he was the online advertising face for Otto’s Facebook fan page. This was Otto’s clever reaction and subsequently received a lot of positive coverage in the media.

Therefore, even in crisis situations, remain calm, reflect and address the possible options. If there are only isolated criticisms, serious dialogues can promote credibility and reputation just as much as positive feedback. The example makes it clear that communicative loss of control due to the almost unrestricted possibility of expressing opinions in social media should be countered positively. As the example of the Otto Group shows, negative or unpleasant comments should not be ignored or even deleted, but rather addressed.

Influencer Marketing Basics from A-Z

Since we have an extremely high volume of inquiries at our social media agency, we wanted to clarify for everyone how influencer marketing works. With our agency, we focus on long-term engagements for our talents. However, many online shops, companies and agencies also need help and support for ‘smaller’ projects. For that, we now have this 6-part free online course on Influencer Marketing. Based on our Instagram software Social Analytics, I show all the steps it takes to set up a successful influencer marketing concept. From the initial definition to monitoring the campaign. More tutorials on social media, marketing, Photoshop, WordPress, SEO, and much more can be found on my advertising agency Youtube channel.

Conclusion – Good content activates users to interact in social media

This also shows the change in the role of the consumer to prosumer. Through social networks, users now have the power to actively shape business processes in companies. Even if you are not active as a company, there are countless platforms where people are discussing you. Continue reading here: Societing – Improvement through customer feedback in social networks.

For more tips, check out the Social Media Blog or for free my Social Media Marketing Guide.